Economy

The measure would be the eighth extension of unemployment benefits since July 2008, at a total cost to taxpayers of more than $120 billion.....About 2.5 million people would receive jobless benefits retroactively, injecting almost $3 billion into the economy once they're paid out. Millions of others will continue to receive payments that would help prop up consumer demand to the tune of about $30 billion more over the coming year.

Payrolls decreased in 27 U.S. states in June, led by California and New York, signaling the slowdown in hiring is broad-based. Employers in California cut staff by 27,600 workers last month and those in New York reduced employment by 22,500, the Labor Department said today in Washington.

The unemployment rate fell in most states in June, mainly because more people gave up searching for work and were no longer counted. Fewer states saw job increases, the latest evidence that the economic recovery is slowing.

The number of borrowers dropping out of a government program to help struggling homeowners rework their mortgage grew in June at almost twice the pace of those getting a permanent modification, the Treasury Department said on Tuesday. The latest figures could signal a rise in foreclosures in the second half of the year at a time when the housing market is still fragile and analysts fear another housing slump could threaten the nascent recovery.

About 91,000 borrowers dropped out of the program in June, putting the total number of dropouts at 530,000.

The state will need $3.53 billion to fully fund its pension contribution and $2.3 billion for public schools, Rosen wrote in a July 12 memo to Assembly Democrats, who requested the information. It also faces the loss of $1 billion in federal stimulus money. Rosen projected a total spending increase of $11.5 billion, and only $1 billion in increased revenue.

“Last year was the largest -- and this year will be of the same magnitude,” Rosen said of the deficit in an interview today. “It’s always a moving target and things could change.”

The General Assembly's recent decisions to defer state bond payments to cope with revenue shortages will cost nearly $139 million in additional interest payments over the next 20 years, according to the state Finance and Administration Cabinet. To help balance the last two state budgets, lawmakers restructured certain bond issues in a way that postponed payments.

Gov. Ed Rendell is urging higher taxes for oil companies to raise revenue for road improvements, bridge replacements and mass-transit projects. If that idea doesn't get legislative approval, the governor says he would sign a bill that would increase licensing and registration fees and boost the gasoline tax by 3.25 cents per gallon.

He indicated he also would support increased enforcement of reckless-driving and vehicle-registration laws in order to collect more fines.

Elgin Area School District U-46 is asking the state for permission to hike driver education fees to 10 times the limit under state law.

The school board Monday night voted to send the Illinois State Board of Education a five-year waiver request that would allow Bartlett, Elgin, Larkin, Streamwood and South Elgin high schools to charge up to $500 per student in course fees.

Lewis pointed out that in 2008 a state law prevented the city from putting cameras on state rights of way. But that thinking changed once the Legislature learned how lucrative the cameras could be. With the new law in place, the state would receive $83 from every $158 citation issued. The city would share the remaining $75 with the camera vendor. "That tells me it's not really about safety, it's about revenue," said Lewis.

Environment

Something besides oil washed ashore along a section of beach in Gulfport. Construction workers at Jones Park called WLOX Monday morning with news about a fish kill. You could smell the problem before seeing it. Dead menhaden, or pogeys, washed ashore along the beach.

"Probably a red tide. It's possible it could be something oil related. It's hard to say right now. DMR is going to send personnel out here to make that determination and it's important. If it's oil related, then the contractor for BP would be responsible for picking it up.

"(Reuters) - Increased housing commitments swelled U.S. taxpayers' total support for the financial system by $700 billion in the past year to around $3.7 trillion, a government watchdog said on Wednesday.

The Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said the increase was due largely to the government's pledges to supply capital to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and to guarantee more mortgages to the support the housing market.

Increased guarantees for loans backed by the Federal Housing Administration, the Government National Mortgage Association and the Veterans administration increased the government's commitments by $512.4 billion alone in the year to June 30, according to the report.

Indeed, the current outstanding balance of overall Federal support for the nation's financial system...has actually increased more than 23% over the past year, from approximately $3.0 trillion to $3.7 trillion -- the equivalent of a fully deployed TARP program -- largely without congressional action, even as the banking crisis has, by most measures, abated from its most acute phases," the TARP inspector general, Neil Barofsky, wrote in the report."

"July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Portugal’s borrowing costs rose at an auction of 1.253 billion euros ($1.61 billion) of bills due in July 2011.

The securities due July 21, 2011 were issued at an average yield of 2.452 percent, the country’s debt management agency said today. That compares with an average yield of 1.036 percent at a March 17 auction of 12-month bills due in March 2011.

Today’s auction attracted bids for 1.3 times the amount offered, compared with a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.2 in the March auction. "

"Chicago is facing a record budget shortfall -- approaching $700 million when the cost of police and fire contracts are factored in -- setting the stage for another raid on reserves generated by the parking meter and Chicago Skyway leases.

As of Dec. 31, the city had just $180 million left from the $1.15 billion parking meter windfall that was supposed to last for 75 years. There was $550 million remaining from the $1.83 billion deal that privatized the Skyway for 99 years."

"SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s deposit insurance has been permanently raised to $250,000 per depositor as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The insurance had been temporarily raised from $100,000 to $250,000 on Oct. 3, 2008. It was originally scheduled to expire on Dec. 31, 2010 but was temporarily extended to Dec. 31, 2013. "With this permanent increase of deposit insurance coverage to $250,000, depositors with CDs above $100,000 but below $250,000 will no longer have to worry about losing coverage on those CDs maturing beyond 2013," said FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair."

"The number of bank failures is expected to peak this year and be slightly higher than the 140 that fell in 2009. That was the highest annual tally since 1992, at the height of the savings and loan crisis. The 2009 failures cost the insurance fund more than $30 billion. Twenty-five banks failed in 2008, the year the financial crisis struck with force, and only three succumbed in 2007.

As losses have mounted on loans made for commercial property and development, the growing bank failures have sapped billions of dollars out of the deposit insurance fund. It fell into the red last year, and its deficit stood at $20.7 billion as of March 31.

The number of banks on the FDIC's confidential "problem" list jumped to 775 in the first quarter from 702 three months earlier, even as the industry as a whole had its best quarter in two years.

A majority of institutions posted profit gains in the January-March quarter. But many small and midsized banks are likely to continue to suffer distress in the coming months and years, especially from soured loans for office buildings and development projects.

The FDIC expects the cost of resolving failed banks to total around $60 billion from 2010 through 2014.

The agency mandated last year that banks prepay about $45 billion in premiums, for 2010 through 2012, to replenish the insurance fund.

Depositors' money — insured up to $250,000 per account — is not at risk, with the FDIC backed by the government."

What I see happening is the increasing use off marginalization and criminalizing sin to raise tax monies for increasingly corrupt and criminal governments. The goal of government is suck taxes from marginalized populations, first for the income tax it was "tax the rich" because bing rich is sinful, then most of the country became rich. Then after prohibition, it was tax alcohol consumption, since that is sinful. Then tobacco became a sin. Then local governments created all sorts of complex parking and traffic regulations that no one could understand, creating a new class of sin. Then delayed tax or fines payments became a sin, and heavy penalties were assessed. Then driving became a sin, so tolls and excessive taxes were assessed for expensive vehicles, using too much gasoline, or driving during congested times, the congestion tax. Then there are excessive fines, like for violations in construction zones, and in Virginia where the second speeding offense can cost $3000. All in the name of reducing sin.

Government has discovered what the criminal mobs have discovered: Sin is lucrative, and pays big time. The USA has sold the right to the pursuit of happiness, for more taxes. The government is counting on the fact that none of us without sin and can tax us to our graves. Government counts on the holier than thou voters to keep robbing us.

Even Germany, the epitome in the minds of many of restrictive government, does not go to the extremes that we here in the US do. They recognize that people screw up, and it is not worthwhile to make everyone's life miserable. Case in point, they have speed and red light cameras all over. Guess what? They only load film in the cameras, one or two days a month. It is not about revenue. it is about getting folks to comply. The attitude that we have adopted in the USA is truly oppressive.

They cant say what they think, and then can never say anything truely bad. The fact they revised estimates negatively on GDP and unemployment + said unusualy uncertain is not good. Predictable to this community, but not good.

"Did you really think we want those laws observed? said Dr. Ferris. We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law-breakers – and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll bemuch easier to deal with. ('Atlas Shrugged' 1957) {WMail Issue #23}"

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the U.S. economy faces "unusually uncertain" prospects, and that the central bank was ready to take further steps to bolster growth if needed." = An attempt for a 'soft landing'? LOL!!! Huge Crash Coming is my take.

But is that really a bad thing? Not trying to defend Bernanke, or say he's doing it for any good reason, or even be argumentative, but what do we really want? Is it a good thing to promote false optimism? Is it desirable in any way for the stock market to be valued where it is when the underlying reality can't really support it? Are we criticizing the Fed chief for not doing a good enough job in dissembling? I suppose that's his job, but don't we want these people to start telling the truth at some point? Of course whenever they do, the whole house of cards will collapse, and no one wants that, but isn't that exactly what everyone criticizes all of the stimulus packages and bailouts for?

Sorry for all of the question marks, they're 99% rhetorical, but it seems to me that Bernanke, Geithner, Obama, and all of the rest are in a no-win situation. If we really want them to stop playing games and to start leveling with the people, isn't it a bit unfair to criticize them when they do?

"unusually uncertain" seems like Bernanke is still not seeing what is going on or he is not telling the truth yet. The numbers and the realistic prospects for growth make is pretty certain that things are not getting "better." The idea that things have to get worse, especially in terms of the growth paradigm, before they get better, especailly once the no growth paradigm is accepted, does not seem to have been accepted yet, but 20 years of bubbles seen as "the great moderation" is a lot to over come, especially when you are busy trying to keep a lot of plates in the air spinning on the ends of sticks.